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Not yet a Virginia Citizens Defense League member? Join VCDL at: http://www.vcdl.org/join
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VCDL's meeting schedule: http://www.vcdl.org/meetings
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Abbreviations used in VA-ALERT: http://www.vcdl.org/help/abbr.html
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VA-ALERT archives: http://www.listbox.com/member/archive/727/=now
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1. ACTION ITEM: Petition to allow Virginia Beach city employees with CHPs to carry at work
2. VCDL supper meeting in Roanoke on March 29!
3. A look at reciprocity now and after July 1
4. Republican leadership kills Delegate Bob Marshall’s pro-gun budget amendments
5. Suggestion on how to vote on NRA election this year
6. Yet another (yawn) gun-control fail: felon gets guns and murders people
7. A form to use for private firearms sales provides some legal protection
8. Homeland Security Official: I don't believe Terror Watch List should be used to infringe on second amendment [VIDEO]
9. Man holds suspect at gun point, call police after suspect seen tampering with car [VIDEO]
10. Woman robbed, abducted at knife point in Virginia Beach Sam's Club parking lot [VIDEO]
11. Richmond police chief considering return to Project Exile [VIDEO]
12. Hope again to press for gun-free legislative buildings
13. Philips: Our national epidemic is big government, not guns
14. [CA] 2012 Terror plot shows necessity of citizens carrying guns daily
15. [FL] Where support for assault rifles is all in 'Good, Clean Fun'
16. [FL] Masked gunman shot dead by restaurant employee
17. [TX] School District approves armed teachers, provides the handguns
18. [VT] The politics of gun control
19. Why women are buying more guns
20. College students sign petition to imprison/execute all registered gun owners [VIDEO]
21. Alarming consequences of gun grabbing
22. Vision and shooting and aging
23. Liberals fear monger on guns - but the truth is that violent crime and murder are at an all time low
24. The psychology of violence- gun control history and background of the 2nd amendment
25. Wake-up time in Europe: Time to get armed
26. Trump rally in Radford comments
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1. ACTION ITEM: Petition to allow Virginia Beach city employees with CHPs to carry at work
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Seeing the success in Bedford County allowing their employees to be able to carry with a CHP on the job, member Vincent Smith has created a petition to ask Virginia Beach to do the same.
Everybody should be able to defend themselves 24/7, Period.
VCDL would like to see everyone to be able to carry at work and it has to start somewhere.
Let’s support our fellow gun owners that work for Virginia Beach! Here’s the petition:
https://www.change.org/p/virginia-beach ... e-violence
or
http://tinyurl.com/hbwdm95
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2. VCDL supper meeting in Roanoke on March 29!
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From Board member Al Steed Jr.:
SW Virginia VCDL will again have a SUPPER MEETING on Tuesday, March 29th at:
GOLDEN CORRAL ( (Near Sam's Club—Airport)
1441 Towne Square Blvd NW
Roanoke, VA 24102
We will start fellowship/eating at 6:30 PM.
Please enter thru the regular entrance, order/pay for your food and join us in the meeting room in the right, rear area of the building.
Our speaker will be PHILIP VAN CLEAVE, President of VCDL.
RSVP STRONGLY advised to al@vcdl.org.
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3. A look at reciprocity now and after July 1
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This is an email I received from Gary Slider, who runs the handgunlaw.us web site. One of the things that the site does is to follow reciprocity/recognition laws for all the states,.
—
I’ve been keeping an eye on the states that don't have Virginia listed as still honoring them:
Arizona doesn't matter as it honors all other states. Louisiana and South Carolina have both informed me that they know about the Virginia law change and will updating their websites to show they still honor VA. (South Carolina has always been slow to update their website.) [PVC: SC has now updated their web site to show reciprocity with VA.]
Pennsylvania is now reporting July 1 as the date the will stop recognizing Virginia, but they also note that their web site will be updated as further communications is received from Virginia.
Idaho and Wyoming have both added Virginia back on their lists after removing them.
Looks like all the states that would have dropped Virginia are still honoring Virginia. It actually worked out much smoother than I thought it would.
If you haven't seen the letter the Virginia State Police sent out to the various states, there is a link to the letter at the top of the Virginia page at Handgunlaw.us (In this case it is the letter they sent to Idaho.)
I have seen the one they sent to Pennsylvania and they are worded the same. Looks like the Virginia State Police are trying their best to stay on top of this.
Delaware is the only state that is left that could cause Virginia permit holders problems. Delaware has added and removed Virginia at least 6 times in the last few years from their listing. They removed Virginia the last time on or about 2/5/14. They added Virginia back on their listing on 2/25/16 only to state they would drop Virginia on 3/1/16! I don't know the reason for all the changes and removing and adding Virginia to their listing. I didn't pay much attention as Virginia always listed Delaware as a state they would just honor and not a state they had an agreement with.
Delaware has been a pain for years adding a state then removing them. They did the same thing with South Carolina. No one seems to know what they are doing up there. I have contacted them giving them all the info I had concerning Virginia, but nothing has been changed on their site as of this morning. Handgunlaw.us has not listed Delaware as honoring Virginia since 2/5/14 when they removed Virginia from their list. Made them really look stupid to add Virginia back on their listing only to state they were dropping Virginia a few days later.
Again a great Job by the VCDL. You guys/gals are the gold standard for State RKBA's Organizations!!!!!!
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4. Republican leadership kills Delegate Bob Marshall’s pro-gun budget amendments
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Delegate Bob Marshall’s pro-gun amendments to the budget were killed by Republican Leadership in the House last week. It was all conveniently done with a voice vote, so VCDL will only be able to hold a few people accountable for those amendments when this year’s voting records is create in April: Delegate Bobby Orrock (who made the motion to pass by the amendments), Speaker Howell, and Majority Leader Kirk Cox.
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5. Suggestion on how to vote on NRA election this year
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Every year I take Jeff Knox’s lead (FirearmsCoalition.org) as to who to vote for on the NRA Board of Directors. Jeff likes to concentrate the vote (called a “bullet vote”) by only having people vote for just a few special candidates and no one else.
This year you would only vote for one person: Sean Maloney
More information here:
http://www.wnd.com/2016/02/nra-election ... llet-vote/
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6. Yet another (yawn) gun-control fail: felon gets guns and murders people
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Gun-control laws do not save any lives from criminals, but they are used to control the good people, like you and me.
http://www.breitbart.com/big-government ... ossession/
or
http://tinyurl.com/zkezb5n
Kansas Gunman Was a Felon Barred from Gun Ownership
by AWR Hawkins 26 Feb 2016
Kansas gunman Cedric Ford, who shot and killed three people and wounded 14 others Thursday, was a felon who was barred from possessing a firearm.
He faced 100 percent gun control, and the dead and the wounded now serve as another sad reminder that gun control does not stop or even hinder those with criminal determination.
Breitbart News reported that Ford began shooting at individuals as he drove to Excel Industries in Hesston, Kansas, around 5 p.m. He did the most damage when he finally reached the Excel building and ran inside, randomly shooting. As news of the shooting poured forth, KWCH identified the gunman as 38-year-old Cedric Ford and reported that his “Facebook page says he was a painter at Excel.”
According to NBC News, Ford allegedly shot people in the town of Newton, as well. He was armed with an “assault rifle” and a pistol, but authorities do not believe he ever fired the pistol. Harvey County Sheriff T. Walton speculated that Ford may have been set off around 3:30 p.m. that same day, when a Harvey County deputy issued him a protective order. Walton did not say who had requested the order.
NBC News reports that Ford “was a felon who previously lived in Miami and was on probation with a series of convictions in Florida including burglary in 2000.” However, the gun ban that comes with a felony conviction was impotent to stop Ford from killing three and wounding numerous others.
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7. A form to use for private firearms sales provides some legal protection
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Gun attorney Dan Hawes has put together a from for people to use when doing a private sale. The form is here:
http://www.virginialegaldefense.com/tem ... ferBOS.pdf
or
http://tinyurl.com/hj6mvwm
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8. Homeland Security Official: I don't believe Terror Watch List should be used to infringe on second amendment [VIDEO]
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Thanks to member Walter Jackson for sharing this link:
http://tinyurl.com/zh2qebd
or
http://freedomoutpost.com/2015/12/homel ... amendment/
Homeland Security Official: I don't believe Terror Watch List should be used to infringe on second amendment
by Tim Brown
December 22, 2015
I know, if you are like me and read a headline like this one for this article, you have to do a double take, but it seems this is exactly what Assistant Homeland Security Secretary for International Affairs Alan Bersin testified to recently. He said that he did not believe it would be appropriate to use the no-fly list to infringe on the Second Amendment rights of American citizens.
Here's how the exchange went down:
REP. BLAKE FARENTHOLD: "Alright, I guess my concern with this is there has been a lot of talk recently about using these watch lists for purposes other than they were intended. For instance, in determining whether or not Americans are able to exercise their rights under the second amendment. Do you think it is appropriate that these lists be used outside of what they were designed for?"
ASSISTANT HOMELAND SECURITY SECRETARY FOR INTERNATIONAL AFFAIRS ALAN BERSIN: "I have not heard that and I don't believe that it would be — and I believe it would be apples and oranges."
REP. FARENTHOLD: "All right. Thank you very much."
While I'm glad to hear Mr. Bersin make this statement and it's absolutely correct, I do wonder why he does not also apply the same thinking to countless thousands on the no-fly list, which infringes on the rights of citizens to move about freely. While I grant that some may be on the list because of convictions of crimes, though I can't be sure since I have no idea who is on the list nor why they are there, there are many who are on the list who have been convicted of absolutely no crimes at all and the no-fly list violates the Fifth Amendment's protections for due process of law.
The White House was pushing this very unconstitutional and illegal no-fly no-buy regulation, but they were completely unable to explain how it would stop mass shootings.
Just keep in mind that it was the current administration that has made sure that criminals have obtained guns through guns shops and provided them to Mexican cartels in an operation known as Fast and Furious, all under the watchful eyes of the Justice Department and unconstitutional federal agency known as the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms.
Additionally, it has been this very unconstitutional Department of Homeland Security who failed to catch 72 employees who were on their own terror watchlist! If that wasn't enough, consider some of the very people who have shown up on this terror watchlist:
-retired Coast Guard commander
-this prepper
-this eight year old
-this four year old
-this 18-month-old baby
-a presidential candidate
New York Senator Jeff Klein (D) even went so far as to introduce a bill that would confiscate guns from people on the terror watchlist. I suppose that is par for the course for New York tyrants, but it's still unlawful!
No, the no-fly list is actually unconstitutional and any infringement upon the Second Amendment is just as unconstitutional. Those advocating for such either are ignorant of the Constitution or defiantly opposed to it. Either is inexcusable in our society. Those rights of ours were purchased in blood!
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9. Man holds suspect at gun point, call police after suspect seen tampering with car [VIDEO]
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In Virginia you can’t protect property (a car) with deadly force. I would NOT recommend doing this.
Thanks to member Clayton Rhoades for the link:
http://tinyurl.com/p3dghj8
or
http://wtvr.com/2015/12/22/suspect-in-c ... ghborhood/
Man holds suspect at gun point, call police after suspect seen tampering with car
By Vernon Freeman Jr. and Melissa Hipolit
December 22, 2015
One man was taken into police custody after a Henrico neighbor used a gun to detain the man believed to be tampering with a car in the neighborhood. Police said they were called to the intersection of Lexon Road and Viking Lane around 8:30 p.m. Tuesday.
The Henrico neighbor reported seeing the suspect tampering with a car. He went outside with a gun and detained the suspect until police arrived. Police said the suspect was taken into custody, but no charges have been filed at this time.
The vehicle in question had been stolen earlier Tuesday night, law enforcement sources said.
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10. Woman robbed, abducted at knife point in Virginia Beach Sam's Club parking lot [VIDEO]
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Thanks to member Jeffrey Shepherd for the link:
http://tinyurl.com/j7v3xxp
or
http://wtkr.com/2015/12/22/woman-robbed ... rking-lot/
Woman robbed, abducted at knife point in Virginia Beach Sam's Club parking lot
By Doris Taylor
Decenber 22, 2015
Virginia Beach, Va. - Police are searching for two men who they say robbed and abducted a woman in a Sam's Club parking lot in Virginia Beach.
This happened on Tuesday, December 22, 2015 at around 1:45 p.m.
The woman was loading up her car after shopping at the location at 3345 Virginia Beach Boulevard.
She told police she was trying to get into the car when a man asked her for directions to Holland Road.
She started to tell him where to go and another suspect came up, took out a knife and told her to get into the car.
They drove her to several ATMs to get money.
After a few hours, they took her to the back of HH Gregg, which is across the street from the Sam's Club.
Police say they believe the suspects were looking for victims in the Sam's Club and Pier One/HH Gregg parking lots before they robbed the woman.
They are looking for two suspects. One is described as a white male, 20 to 30 years of age, 6’ - 6' 1" tall weighing approximately 200 pounds. He was wearing a dark jacket with a round patch on the right side and beanie.
The second suspect is a short white male, appeared to be Hispanic descent, approximately 5' 9" tall, thin build. He was wearing dark clothing and spoke with a slight accent.
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11. Richmond police chief considering return to Project Exile [VIDEO]
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Thanks to member Clayton Rhoades for the link:
http://tinyurl.com/owula2e
or
http://wric.com/2015/12/23/richmond-pol ... ect-exile/
Richmond police chief considering return to Project Exile
By Parker Slaybaugh
December 23, 2015
Gun violence has claimed dozens of lives in Richmond this year, and now police are considering the return of project exile.
“There is a thing called project exile, we’re talking about re-engineering that and bringing it back,” said Richmond Police Chief Alfred Durham during a press conference Monday.
The idea was mentioned on the heels of a violent weekend in Richmond which saw the death of 12-year-old Amiya Moses.
“This year, especially in the summer months, we have experienced an increase in gun violence in the commission of violent crimes,” said Durham.
Project Exile was a federal program first started right here in Richmond in 1997. It shifted the prosecution of illegal gun possession offenses to federal court, where they carried a mandatory sentence of five years in prison.
“Essentially, going to Federal Court meant you were going to be treated a lot more harshly for any gun offense in Richmond in the 90’s,” said 8News legal expert Russ Stone.
In 1997, Richmond saw 140 murders. The next year that number dropped to just over 90, and by 2001 the number of homicides from 1997 was nearly cut in half to 70. According to a report by the US Attorney’s office in November of 1998, 372 people were indicted on gun violations, 440 guns were seized, 247 people were convicted and 196 people were sentenced to an average four-and-a-half years behind bars.
“It certainly had an impact,” Stone added.
The ACLU disagrees. In a statement to 8News, a spokesperson says, in part, “studies of Project Exile have questioned the connection between the program and subsequent reductions in homicide rates.”
But even Stone says bringing the program back now may not be as effective since Virginia has made it’s law more strict and closer aligned with federal sentencing guidelines.
“If you are trying to reduce 160 homicides a year, it’s a lot easier to do that than it is to do 35 homicides a year,” said Stone.
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12. Hope again to press for gun-free legislative buildings
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Sounds like Delegate Hope is getting a little paranoid in his old age.
Thanks to member Thomas Crabtree for the link:
The following is from InsideNova's website posted this morning. This is an outrageous quote by Del. Hope, "We’re an easy target for anyone with a concealed-handgun permit..."
http://tinyurl.com/nqtkx2y
or
http://www.insidenova.com/news/arlingto ... 547c5.html
Hope again to press for gun-free legislative buildings
December 23, 2015
Del. Patrick Hope acknowledges it will be an uphill fight, but is pledging to press forward with a bill prohibiting weapons in buildings controlled by the state legislature.
Currently, anyone is allowed to carry guns on legislature-controlled grounds, as long as they are legally permitted to have one.
“We’re an easy target for anyone with a concealed-handgun permit, or one who just wants to open-carry on the Capitol grounds, and nothing prevents them to do so,” Hope (D-47th) told the Sun Gazette.
“While my bill wouldn’t prevent all gun-violence tragedies, it would guarantee the safety of the visitors and those who work in the Capitol and General Assembly Building,” Hope said. “We have an excellent Capitol Police force, and we should let them do their job to screen out guns and keep us safe.”
Hope is not brimming with confidence that the Republican-dominated House of Delegates will spend much time considering his measure.
“I bring a similar bill most years, and it always fails, but it seems these tragedies are increasing more and more frequently, and I’m getting more and more concerned,” Hope said.
Gov. McAuliffe in October signed an executive order banning the open carrying of guns in some state-owned buildings, a measure that drew protests from Republican legislative leaders who said he was usurping the authority of the General Assembly.
McAuliffe’s executive action had no effect on facilities controlled by the legislative branch.
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13. Philips: Our national epidemic is big government, not guns
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Thanks to EM Dave Hicks for the link:
http://tinyurl.com/zbxdpv3
Or:
http://www.roanoke.com/opinion/commenta ... eae47.html
Philips: Our national epidemic is big government, not guns
by Douglas W. Phillips Jr.
December 21, 2015
In the Oct. 26 commentary “Gun violence is a national epidemic,” Ted Edlich states: “There seems to be some recognition by scholars on both sides of the Second Amendment interpretation that allows for reasonable regulation.” I agree, if logical security remains for law-abiding citizens.
However, those same lawful Americans and Virginians should never be left unarmed against a government of fallible people holding power over them.
Most Americans understand we're a uniquely formed country, whose Constitution was carefully and prayerfully designed to protect us from many central power abuses. We cannot compare the U.S. to countries that disarm their citizens, or aren't even constituted to avoid tyranny.
We hope our huge government doesn't continue a trend that shackles us, because sinister examples exist of our government overstepping its boundaries — multiple agency SWAT teams, intrusions on personal privacy, dishonest taxation, unauthorized seizures and even too aggressive policing.
This is precisely why we had to push back a despotic King George of England to gain independence.
The gun violence piece is full of interesting shooting statistics, but none seem to be substantiated nor sources quoted. This makes an article less credible and more emotionally stirring.
Nicholas Johnson, law professor at Fordham University, includes these kind of dialogues — entanglements of culture and politics — in his article "Progressive Gun-Control Charade" (Wall Street Journal, Oct. 25). He describes years-old shortcomings of extreme firearms restriction movements such as:
“Progressive politicians pander to a core liberal constituency with gun-control rhetoric, all while chasing the votes of the 42% of American households, according to Gallup, that own one. ... "
"[Their rhetoric] attempts to have it both ways, suggesting that effective gun control is possible without reaching into America’s gun safes and disarming ordinary citizens. ..."
"And when these half-measures fail ... progressives can always blame the 'gun lobby.' "
Confiscation? Mass banning of belongings is tricky. And look at another killer: motor vehicles. Should we ban some, or have “car-free” zones?
“[G]un bans proved unpalatable to American voters in even the most liberal jurisdictions.”
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14. [CA] 2012 Terror plot shows necessity of citizens carrying guns daily
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Thanks to member Bill Albritton for the link:
http://tinyurl.com/jk48j7o
or
http://www.breitbart.com/big-government ... uns-daily/
2012 Terror plot shows necessity of citizens carry guns daily
By AWR Hawkins
December 18, 2015
On December 17 the Los Angeles Times provided details of a 2012 terror plot based on court documents. The plot was not carried out, but the details of it show that an armed citizenry could have thwarted it in its tracks.
According to the LA Times, San Bernardino attacker Syed Farook and companion Enrique Marquez “planned to throw pipe bombs into the [Riverside City College] cafeteria area from an ‘elevated position on the second floor.’” Court documents show that Farook and Marquez were going to use the bombs in a way that would provide “maximum casualties.” They then planned to leave the college and set up a secondary attack along the 91 freeway–the secondary attack would be a firearm-based attack and would be one that armed citizens could foil.
The attack along the 91 freeway included Marquez taking a high position away from the freeway, while Farook “used pipe bombs to stop traffic.” Once traffic stopped, the plan called for Farook to walk car to car shooting the occupants. Such a plan only works if those occupants are unarmed.
The difficulty of being armed for self-defense in California makes that state a viable choice for such an attack, and it should also wake Californians up to the danger they face because of the endless gun control regulations Democrats have heaved upon them.
The grizzly and inhumane nature of such attacks–and plans for such attacks–is what has motivated Police Chief Randy Kennedy (Hughes Springs, TX), Sheriff Paul Babeu (Pinal County, AZ), Sheriff David Cole (Steuben County, NY,), Sheriff Michael A. Helmig (Boone County, KY), Sheriff Paul J. Van Blarcum (Ulster County, NY), Sheriff Wayne Ivey (Brevard County, FL), and Sheriff Joe Arpaio (Maricopa County, AZ), to urge concealed carry permit holders to carry guns every day to fight terrorism.
In fact, the necessity of an armed citizenry in the fight against terrorism and crime is so great that Chief Kennedy warned there will be a “revolution” if Obama tries to disarm the American people.
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15. [FL] Where support for assault rifles is all in 'Good, Clean Fun'
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http://tinyurl.com/ptubrjo
or
http://www.nytimes.com/2015/12/20/us/wh ... n-fun.html
Where support for assault rifles is all in 'Good, Clean Fun'
By Erik Eckholm
December 19, 2015
SUNRISE, Fla. — As Eddie Pereira helped his 15-year-old nephew fire a semiautomatic assault rifle for the first time, Mr. Pereira’s son, a more experienced shooter, snapped pictures of the rite with a phone.
Mr. Pereira, 45, is a regular at the target range here at Markham Park, a county-run recreation area outside Fort Lauderdale that offers family camping, boating, biking, a dog park, a nature trail and, at the far end, a 100-yard shooting range.
Arguments over gun control may boil in some quarters. But here, canoers, bird-watchers and even the dogs paid little heed to the distant crackle of gunfire. On the range itself, dozens of people practiced shooting with the very kind of rapid-fire, high-capacity weapons used in recent mass murders in California and Colorado and others before — the kind that President Obama and many others say should be banned.
Mr. Pereira, his brother and their two sons were trying out his new AR-15-style rifle, the country’s best-selling style of long gun, which looked as if it came straight out of a commando movie. He bought it for $600, then personalized it with $400 worth of accessories like different sights and grips. He has a 30-round magazine so he does not have to reload too often.
“I like the way it looks, and I like the sport of it,” said Mr. Pereira, who runs a business transporting construction materials. “It’s good, clean fun.”
“And I have it if I ever need it for personal protection,” he added.
In his Oval Office address on Dec. 6, Mr. Obama expressed the exasperation shared by millions of Americans: How can we not limit weapons that can kill dozens in minutes? Why would any sport shooter need extra hand grips and a magazine holding 30 or even 100 cartridges?
Many gun enthusiasts express deep exasperation of their own. They argue that most non-shooters do not understand the technology and appeal of modern weapons that are widely used for target shooting and, increasingly, hunting. They say proposed bans would do nothing to prevent crime or even lessen the toll of mass shootings.
“From my experience, the bad guys are always going to get the guns, and gun control is only going to affect law-abiding citizens,” said Oscar Plasencia, 57, a retired police officer who was practicing on a recent Saturday at the Markham Park range.
Mr. Plasencia uses an AR-15 model with just a five-round magazine when hunting deer, and said it was no different from many other semiautomatic hunting rifles.
“I have a 30-round magazine in my AR at home, for home defense,” he added.
Variants of the AR-15 design, a civilian version of the military’s M-16 without the capacity to fire in automatic bursts, have in recent years been the highest-selling rifles in the country, according to the National Shooting Sports Foundation in Newtown, Conn., the trade association for the gun industry.
Less common but also popular are models based on the AK-47, the Soviet-designed assault weapon that is widely used worldwide. Both designs are off patent and produced by dozens of companies.
American sales of these rifles, as indicated by production plus net imports, reached 1.5 million in 2012, far higher than in any previous year, according to foundation estimates.
Sales have remained brisk over the last three years and appear to have surged in recent months, suggesting that more than 10 million “modern sporting rifles,” as the foundation has sought to rename them, are in circulation in the United States.
The foundation says that only “cosmetic features” distinguish these rifles from other common firearms and that it is misleading to call them assault weapons no matter how menacing they may look to some.
“Consumers like the design, and they’re voting with their wallets,” said Larry Keane, the senior vice president and general counsel of the foundation. Made with lightweight aluminum and polymers, they are easy to hold, have little recoil, are durable and accurate and have modular components, enabling buyers to customize their weapons.
With semiautomatic rifles and pistols so ubiquitous, many gun control advocates now place a higher priority on measures like expanded background checks, to help keep guns out of the wrong hands, than on pursuing a ban on particular designs.
At the same time, many remain convinced that some restrictions on the weapons would be worthwhile, especially a limit on magazines larger than 10 rounds, which could slightly slow down a mass killer.
“Just because these weapons are becoming more popular is not a reason that they should be accepted without question,” said Josh Horwitz, the executive director of the Coalition to Stop Gun Violence.
“Many people find it fun to shoot lots of rounds, and I don’t dispute that,” he said. “I just think we don’t have the right balance here.”
Defining an assault weapon in the civilian market has always been difficult. Starting in 1994, Congress banned sales of semiautomatic assault weapons, defined as those with a detachable magazine and any two of several traits defined as military features, like pistol grips and folding stocks on rifles and second grips on the barrels of handguns. Also banned were magazines holding more than 10 rounds.
But the law expired in 2004 and was not renewed, as opposition to gun control hardened and as no strong evidence emerged to indicate it had reduced gun violence.
Now, seven states have similar bans, including California. But gun manufacturers have adapted their designs to comply with the laws; the two AR-15 models used by the attackers in San Bernardino, Calif., this month were not banned, although the 30-round magazines the killers used are illegal in the state.
Democratic proposals now before Congress would be somewhat more restrictive than the previous federal ban. They would prohibit sales of semiautomatic rifles and pistols that combine detachable magazines with only one other “military feature” from a list of physical traits and, again, would prohibit magazines holding more than 10 rounds.
Here at the gun range, opinions varied on gun control more broadly, with some saying they could support stronger efforts to keep guns out of the hands of criminals and the mentally disturbed. But nearly everyone seemed to feel that controls on semiautomatic rifles and large magazines would be futile.
“Ten or 30 rounds, what difference does it make?” asked Allen Doyle, 63, an accountant. “I can change a clip in 1.5 seconds.”
One of the features described in the legal bans as “military,” and by the gun industry as “cosmetic,” is a pistol grip on rifles — a handle beneath the trigger. This makes it easier to hold the rifle steady while firing repeatedly, a desired feature to shooting enthusiasts.
But Mr. Horwitz, of the gun-control coalition, sees the feature differently.
“Traditional hunting rifles are very accurate on the first shot,” he said, which is usually all one gets when hunting game. “The pistol grip allows the same accuracy on rounds two to 100, a very helpful addition when the shooter is aiming at people.”
Scott Pechnick, the creative director of an ad agency, brought an AR-15, an AK-47 with an antiquated-looking wooden stock and banana clip, a traditional rifle and a Glock semiautomatic pistol to the Markham Park range.
“I enjoy shooting — to me it’s a stress reliever,” he said. “I’m also a firm believer in self-defense.”
Mr. Pechnick, 31, said he favored wider background checks and thought that someone should be monitoring large purchases of ammunition. “You can buy 1,000 rounds of ammunition online and nobody says anything,” he said, adding that banning the rifles seemed pointless.
Mr. Pereira’s nephew Joey, the 15-year-old who was shooting an AR-15 for the first time, said that the recoil from the first shot had come as a shock, but that after that “it wasn’t that bad.”
“It’s fun,” he said.
His father, Jorge Pereira, said he did not share his brother Eddie’s love of guns but saw nothing wrong with it, “and I’m a registered Democrat.”
If there were no guns in the world already, he said, a ban on assault weapons might make sense. But now, he said, “I’m not sure that a ban is going to do all that much.”
What is more, he added, “there’s a sizable population out there that would see it as a call to revolution.”
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16. [FL] Masked gunman shot dead by restaurant employee
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Perfectly avoidable: don’t rob restaurants and you won’t get shot.
Thanks to member Mark Shinn for the link:
http://tinyurl.com/oudvo65
Or
http://www.sun-sentinel.com/local/browa ... story.html
Masked gunman shot dead by restaurant employee
By Rebecca Piccardio
December 24, 2015
The tables turned for a masked gunman when he was shot and killed by an employee of the Miramar restaurant he attempted to rob, police said.
Just before 6 p.m. Wednesday, a man wearing a ski mask and gloves walked into Captain Max Seafood restaurant, 3700 State Road 7, and brandished a gun.
After an "exchange of words" with the gunman, a restaurant employee used his own weapon to stop the attempted robbery, said Miramar Police spokeswoman Tania Rues.
"A restaurant employee fired several shots and killed the suspect," she said.
Police are still investigating whether the masked man fired his weapon before he was shot.
The unidentified employee was seen getting into the back of a police car Wednesday night as the body of the gunman remained inside the restaurant. Police were waiting for a search warrant to inspect the body for identification, Rues said.
No one else was injured, Rues said.
"Luckily, only the suspect was hurt, but there are other situations where innocent bystanders could have been hurt as well," Rues said. "We would hope that people do not take the situation into their own hands.”
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17. [TX] School District approves armed teachers, provides the handguns
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Thanks to member Mark Shinn for the link:
http://tinyurl.com/jee65vc
or
http://www.breitbart.com/big-government ... -handguns/
School District approves armed teachers, provides the handguns
by AWR Hawkins
December 20, 2015
On December 16, school board members in Keene, Texas, voted not simply to allow armed teachers, but also to provide the handguns teachers will carry.
Ironically, the effort was supported by Keene Independent School District (ISD) superintendent Ricky Stephens, who opposed arming teachers when hired three years ago. “Now he says the world has changed and so has his opinion.”
According to Fox 5, Keene ISD members “approved a policy that would allow a few select staff members inside its four campuses to carry a gun.” The names of those who will be carrying are being withheld, but the guns they carry will be “provided by the district.”
The district will decide which teachers to arm out of a pool of those who submit their names as wanting to carry a gun.
Superintendent Stephens said forethought has already been given to the conditions under which guns should be carried, including which teaching situations are better suited than others for armed faculty members. In light of this, he said parents who have expressed concern that a student may take a gun away from a teacher are worrying about a scenario that will not happen.
Stephens said, “[Teachers] involved with kids in that level will not be those who are selected to carry the gun.”
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18. [VT] The politics of gun control
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Thanks to member Charles Scott Johnson for the link:
http://tinyurl.com/jovyx2o
or
http://rutlandherald.com/article/201512 ... /151229996
The politics of gun control
by Mike Smith
December 20, 2015
The Washington Post recently conducted an analysis to fact-check a statement by Sen. Marco Rubio when he said that “none of the major shootings that have occurred in this country over the last few months or years that have outraged us, would gun laws have prevented them.”
The Post developed a list of 12 mass shootings, starting with the horrific Newtown, Conn., shootings that killed 26 people, mostly children, at an elementary school in 2012, and ending with the recent shooting in San Bernardino, Calif., that occurred just weeks ago and left 14 people dead and many more injured.
The conclusion: Rubio’s comments stand up to the Post’s scrutiny. His statement is correct.
So why are politicians rushing to institute gun control laws that may have little effect on reducing this type of violence? Because in politics, when you can’t really do anything, you must look like you’re doing something.
Politicians will talk about plans as though they’re advancing policies that will solve the problem. Their plans, which include banning “assault weapons” or closing “loopholes,” are often pieced together without even the most rudimentary knowledge of the mechanics of a firearm, or explaining how a new process could work, or contemplating the expanded black market new prohibitions inevitably create.
I used to carry an assault rifle for a living. At one time in my life, I could say I fired almost every type of assault rifle in the world. It’s true that these weapons are highly lethal. If these were the weapons we were talking about then, I would wholeheartedly support a ban on assault rifles. But automatic weapons for civilian use are already banned in the United States.
So the “assault weapons” politicians are talking about banning are rifles that are manufactured to look like their military counterparts but operate exactly the same way as semiautomatic hunting rifles or pistols. In fact, these rifles that are designed to look like assault rifles were banned for 10 years. Studies indicate that the ban had no appreciable impact on reducing gun violence, although critics claim that 10 years is not enough time to draw such conclusions.
The most recent call for the ban of these rifles — including from our own Sen. Bernie Sanders — was after the shootings in California. That state has some of the most restrictive gun laws in the country, and yet the people who wanted to commit these acts of violence found a way to carry out their planned slaughter. In fact, the same horrendous result could have occurred with any semiautomatic hunting rifle or target-shooting pistol.
Let’s not forget violence — including horrific acts of terrorism — happens frequently in the absence of guns. Knives, airplanes, fertilizer, crockpots, bare hands — sadly, this list is endless. We could extend the “if it saves just one life” argument to all of them — but we ban none of them.
So what impact would another ban of one class of gun have on gun violence? Not a whole lot.
But what about the measure gun control advocates call “universal background checks?” Although expanded background checks are perhaps more amenable to many than a ban on certain types of rifles, these expanded checks are fraught with logistical problems and would not have prevented much of the violence that has shaken us.
Currently, gun retailers are required to be federally licensed and to perform a background check before they sell a gun to a buyer. But these rules don’t apply to private sales, or trades, at gun shows or between friends, family or acquaintances.
There is a call from some Vermont politicians for this background check to be extended to private transactions. This raises some interesting questions. Does this mean that family members would have to undergo a background check before they could exchange guns? My father gave me his .22-caliber rifle for deer hunting when I was 10 years old.
This type of transaction is not unusual in Vermont. Will a similar exchange in the future be subject to background checks? And if Vermont families don’t submit to background checks, are they then criminals? Unfortunately, “universal background checks” — meaning background checks for all legal gun transactions — would not have prevented the tragedy this summer that occurred in Barre and Berlin.
So how do we address the problem of violence committed by guns?
We need to focus our attention on what is causing the violence. Reducing violence requires that we tackle issues like intergenerational poverty, the lack of educational and economic opportunities, physical and emotional abuse, domestic violence, alcohol and drug addiction, mental illness, declining family cohesiveness, prejudice and radicalization of religions. This kind of work is complex, and it takes time. It’s a lot harder to communicate these solutions, especially in a speech. What’s easier is to throw out a new restriction like the ones discussed above that will not solve our challenges but are politically expedient.
People fear what they don’t understand — like guns, other religions and incomprehensible violence. What makes a person willing to reject the rule of law and harm others is a larger, more complex problem to tackle than loopholes or bans can address.
In the end, using fear to advance a gun control agenda solves nothing and may even prevent meaningful solutions from being implemented because we pretend that quick fixes are enough when in fact they are not. For politicians, however, this is not the language that fits neatly into a sound bite.
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19. Why women are buying more guns
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Because they look so sexy with a handgun on their hip?
Thanks to member Clayton Rhoades for the link:
http://tinyurl.com/q7ue9b4
Or
http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2 ... -guns.html
Why women are buying more guns
By Keli Goff
December 24, 2015
A recently released New York Times/CBS poll included headline-grabbing findings about America’s evolving attitudes on gun control. The poll found that the number of Americans supporting a ban on assault weapons is 19 points lower today than it was after the shooting of former Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords and others in 2011.
Perhaps more significant, it found that the number of Americans supporting stricter gun control in general has slipped 7 points in just two months. While these numbers may come as a surprise to many, they shouldn’t, because in the last few years the backbone of the gun control movement has been undergoing an evolution of its own. More and more women are buying guns. As the number of female gun owners has risen, so has the number of women expressing skepticism of gun control.
More than a third of the women who participated in the National Sports Shooting Foundation’s most recent survey identified as new gun owners. This data are consistent with those of other organizations, including the National Sporting Goods Association. According to the NSGA’s Annual Sports Participation Report, the number of women who practice target shooting increased nearly 36 percent (from 4.31 million to 5.86 million) between 2004 and 2014, while the number of women participating in hunting increased 23 percent (from 2.68 million to 3.3 million). In response to a request for comment, an NRA spokesman reported tracking a 77 percent increase between 2004 and 2011 in the number of women who own firearms.
Historically there has been a significant gender divide on the issue of gun control. But according to a 2012 Pew Research Center report, there was a 9 point increase in the number of women declaring their support for gun rights between 2008 and 2012. Experts believe there is a connection between more women feeling empowered by gun ownership and shifting their perspective on gun control.
“Gun control has almost nothing to do with ensuring the bad guys don’t have guns. Women increasingly seem to be understanding this,” wrote Republican strategist Cheri Jacobus in an email.
For years the movement for gun control has been driven by women leaders and supporters. The Million Mom March that took place on Mother’s Day 2000 was one of the most significant milestones in the modern-day gun-control movement. Founded by Donna Dees Thomases in the aftermath of the shooting of children by a white supremacist in Grenada Hills, California, the movement built momentum that resulted in a number of legislative wins for gun-control supporters. Advocacy by Million Mom March chapters is credited with tougher gun laws being passed in states from Arizona to Maryland to New York, where Republican governor and current presidential candidate George Pataki signed some of the nation’s strictest gun laws just months after the Million Mom March.
So what happened to the Mom-mentum?
In a phone interview Dees Thomases disputed the notion that gun-control supporters have lost ground or lost the support of women in the 15 years since their triumphant march. She pointed to the Million Mom March activists and alums now serving in elected office (at least three currently), not to mention others whose volunteerism for candidates supportive of gun control swung elections. “They threw a lot of rascals out of office,” she said. “People didn’t leave the march and go home and do nothing. We left that march and got sweeping reform passed.”
She also said that polling data on guns can be misleading, with the phrasing of questions often being key to which way responses tilt. She did concede that the female faces of the gun control movement have lost visibility in media, but she believes they’ve had little choice. “The question is not why we went away,” she corrected me, emphatically noting they have not, “but why we’re not visible.” According to Dees Thomases, in the social media-driven age it is much tougher to be a gun-control activist—particularly a female one. “All women activists on this issue at some point are harassed,” she said. “They try to publish your phone number and addresses,” she said of gun-control opponents. As a result female supporters of gun control have not been as widely represented in media in recent years, which may be having an impact on public perception of the issue.
Colette, a New York-based mother, gun owner, and volunteer with New Yorkers Against Gun Violence, thinks so. In an email exchange she wrote that her “activism was spurred due to the fact that as a group, American gun owners largely reject the NRA (only 6 percent of gun owners are NRA members) — and I felt nothing would really change until average gun owners were better represented both in the media and in the halls of Congress.” While she grew up with guns, anecdotes from friends and acquaintances nationwide indicate to her that gun ownership among women in general has been increasing in recent years. But in her immediate social circle support for gun control has been increasing as well. Though she decided to become a gun-owning gun-control activist following the Sandy Hook shooting, she said, “I’ve received more inquiries in the past three months or so that sound like ‘Tell me what I can do’ than in the past three years.”
Perhaps the real question is why are more women buying guns?
Bill Brassard, a spokesman for the National Shooting Sports Foundation, cited the growing influence of celebrities in the sports shooting world such as Eva Shockey, Julie Golob, and Jessie Duff, but most of those interviewed for this piece said more women are gravitating to firearms for the same reason most people have historically: to protect themselves. Cheri Jacobus, the Republican strategist, argued that as women establish more independence in every sphere of their lives, it is only natural that personal protection would be part of that evolution. Citing the heroism of some of the female teachers during Sandy Hook she said, “Gone are the days when women look to men to keep them safe.” She continued, “Female head of households and single professional women rely on themselves for economic security and now for physical security, as well.”
She concluded, “Our new motto may just be ‘If you see something, say something. But make sure you’re packing heat and have good aim.’”
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20. College students sign petition to imprison/execute all registered gun owners [VIDEO]
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Moronic is too mild a word.
Thanks to member Bill Albritton for the link:
http://tinyurl.com/puwtql2
Or
http://thegunfeed.com/video-college-stu ... un-owners/
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21. Alarming consequences of gun grabbing
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http://tinyurl.com/pnptmsd
Or
http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/201 ... consequen/
Alarming consequences of gun grabbing
By Sarah Potter and Abigail R. Hall
December 23, 2015
As we head in to the New Year and reflect on events that have shaped us over the last 365 days, one thing is sure: Gun control was one of the most hotly contested topics. As the debate unfolds in 2016, we should have grace and humility to understand that this is a complex issue, and there is no easy fix.
The United States has averaged one mass shooting every 64 days, an alarming statistic. A 13-year study conducted by The New York Times found that the average number of annual shootings with multiple casualties increased from 6.4 a year from 2000 to 2006, to 16.4 a year from 2007 to 2013.
Gun control is a seemingly never-ending debate in the United States. President Obama and other political figures have recently proposed taking active steps to curtail gun violence, stating such action is long overdue.
Many point to gun control policies in Australia and Great Britain, claiming these countries have practically eliminated mass shootings after implementing mandatory gun buyback programs. Indeed, statistics show that “murders and suicides plummeted” in Australia shortly following the implementation of its policy in which some 650,000 guns were confiscated. It’s suggested that America could implement similar policies and observe similar declines in gun violence.
Although the urge to decrease and eliminate these tragic shootings in the United States is understandable, we shouldn’t be so quick to advocate adopting Australian- and British-style gun policies in the United States.
First, the programs in Great Britain and Australia have not been nearly as effective as proponents claim. After the gun buyback was put in place in the United Kingdom, gun violence did indeed fall. But it didn’t disappear. Criminals simply shifted to alternatives, like knives. In fact, the rate of knife violence in the United Kingdom is now double the rate of gun violence in the United States. It’s become such a problem that British citizens are encouraged to “save a life” by “surrender[ing] your knife.”
In Australia, overall murder rates fell after implementing their program, from a rate of 1.6 per 100,000 in 1994 to 1.1 per 100,000 in 2012. However, the Australian government reports that crimes such as armed robbery, manslaughter, kidnapping and sexual assault have all increased after the gun ban. In terms of suicides, the rate of gun suicides fell — but overall suicide rate reached a 10-year high.
The United Kingdom and Australia have shown us that gun control doesn’t stop innocent people from being wounded and killed.
The idea of implementing a gun ban or widespread buyback program in the United States faces additional problems. Consider that, even if it became completely illegal for everyday citizens in the United States to obtain guns, the demand for weapons wouldn’t disappear, but move onto a completely unregulated black market.
This is precisely what’s happened in the United Kingdom and Australia. In 2008, the Guardian reported that machine guns, shotguns and pistols were easy to come by on the streets of London for as little as 150 pounds. In Australia, guns are being illegally smuggled into the country. Moreover, many gun owners failed to register or give up their weapons after the ban was implemented. Together, these issues make guns used in crimes even more difficult to trace.
Others have suggested that, in addition to or in conjunction with a nationwide buyback or ban, stricter background checks, like those in Sweden, may by key to stopping mass shootings, but even here the benefit is not so clear. Sellers in today’s black market in the United States, for example, often use “straw purchasers.” These individuals, with no criminal record, easily pass background checks and have been used to legally purchase guns, only to turn them over to black market sellers.
It’s apparent that there is a problem with gun violence in the United States. Although it is entirely understandable that citizens want change in the wake of tragedy, it is important to consider the costs and benefits of any proposed solution. While we want to rid our country of mass shootings, we should be cautious in advocating mimicking other countries’ policies. As the United Kingdom and Australian policies have shown, completely abolishing guns may reduce some gun-related crime, but may simply cause a shift from one type of crime to another.
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22. Vision and shooting and aging
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Thanks to EM Brandy Polanowski for the link:
http://tinyurl.com/jj5n72a
or
http://chrissajnog.com/vision-and-shoot ... ng-part-1/
Vision and shooting and aging (part 1)
By Chris Sajnog
December 18, 2015
When I first heard of the Chris Sajnog, and saw his video about vision and shooting in which he showed a Brock String, I knew I had to get involved. Although I’m a relatively new shooter (only about three years, and limited mostly to target air rifle indoors), I’ve been a practicing optometrist for about thirty-four years, and have worked in the area of Sports Vision Training (a.k.a. “Performance” Vision Training) for the past seven years.
In a short time as a member of Chris Sajnog’s Center Mass Group, I learned that most of the questions that shooters have about their vision relate to the changes that come with age (or as I like to call it, “the passing of time.”) I will go over some of the issues that have shown up in the Team Room discussions, as well as some of the things I’ve noticed in my own attempts to put little pellets repeatedly through the same hole in paper targets (which can be more difficult than meets the eye, pardon the pun!)
The first part of this series will address the optical considerations that we have to deal with as we hit middle age and beyond, and the second part will cover the changes that the eye undergoes with age.
REFRACTIVE ERRORS
If you wear glasses, it’s because you have an error in how your eye focuses light, i.e. when your eye is relaxed, the focus does not fall on the retina. The most common refractive errors are: shooting vison problems
Nearsightedness (myopia) – the focus falls in front of the retina. Objects are clear up to a certain distance, but are blurred beyond that distance. The more myopia you have, the shorter that distance is. Myopia is corrected with “minus” lenses, which make things look smaller.
Farsightedness (hyperopia) – the focus falls behind the retina. Not as simple to explain as myopia for the following reason: we have the ability to change the focus of the eye, a bit like focusing a camera (this is called accommodation.) It is possible, with smaller amounts of hyperopia, to see clearly at all distances, if you have enough accommodation to counter the hyperopia. (Accommodation changes with age, as we will soon see.) But if you have a higher amount, and can’t overcome it by focusing, then things will be blurry at near, or even at all distances.
Astigmatism – this occurs when one or more of the optical elements of the eye, either the front surface of the cornea, or the internal lens, have a distorted shape, “out of round.” It can be corrected with glasses or contact lenses, which use lenses, that have equal but opposite “out-of-roundness.”
Combinations – many people have combinations of astigmatism with either myopia or hyperopia
Presbyopia – this is the loss of focusing ability that occurs with age, and it begins to affect our reading typically sometime in the mid 40’s. Some people call this farsightedness, but it really isn’t, and can occur with any of the above conditions. It’s presbyopia that keeps us from being able to focus our front sights. Or our dinner. Or our cell phones:
If you are presbyopic then we have to correct your vision for your front sight, and the ways we correct for presbyopia are: types of lenses for shooting glasses
Reading glasses – these correct for the reading distance, and have a single optical power
Bifocals – glasses with two different prescriptions; if you need a correction for distance, that is placed in the top, and the reading correction is in the bottom, with a distinct line separating them
Trifocal lenses – three distinct zones, separated by lines, give distance, near, and intermediate vision (intermediate zone would give a clear front sight)
Progressive lenses – these have the distance Rx in the top, with a gradual change of power from the top to the bottom of the lens. These are the most commonly used multifocal today.
Contact lenses – there are many types of multifocal contact lenses – soft, rigid, and hybrid (soft lenses with a rigid optic in the center, for sharper, clearer vision and the enhanced comfort of a soft lens.)
One of the challenges for shooters wearing progressive lenses is that focusing a front sight requires tilting the head back, in order to access the part of the lens that corrects for that distance. But this can be awkward and uncomfortable at best, and can adversely affect your stance when shooting at worst. Also, there are inherent distortions in the design of progressives that you can encounter. And the zone, which will focus a front sight, is fairly small compared to the width of the reading zone. My own experience was that even the distance area of my progressive lenses showed distortion of a peep/globe sight when I was holding a rifle, since I was looking through the upper corner of the lens. This brings into play another important concept: the best part of a lens is the area around the optical center, and as we move away from the optical center, the image can become less clear, even distorted. And the higher the prescription, the greater the distortion, and non-prescription safety glasses probably won’t shot this distortion. (Also, I’ve exaggerated a bit in the illustration.) Furthermore, this distortion can occur even in non-progressive lenses!
So what do we do about the distortion that can occur when looking through off-center areas of our prescription glasses? Well, there are a few things available:
Have a pair of glasses made with the optical centers moved (“decentered”) to where your eyes look through the frame when you’re shooting your rifle. The picture below (shown for a right-eyed shooter) gives you an idea. The optical centers will still be the same distance apart as your eyes, but when you sight your rifle, you will be looking through the optical centers (or at least a lot closer than if they were put in the usual spot.)
Ask for “digital free-form” surfaced lenses, which have special curvatures that correct for the distortion in the periphery (hint: they’re not cheap)
Switch to contact lenses, which remain centered on the eye, even as the eye moves.
Now we’re getting to one of the most FAQ’s I encounter from shooters – how to get the front sight in focus. Generally, the front sight of a rifle or pistol will be farther away than the distance at which “reading glasses” correct, so not only will the front sight be blurred, the target will be terribly blurred; and if you’re wearing progressive lenses, then you will have to tilt your head back uncomfortably to get the sight in focus. At this juncture, I’d like to use a favorite analogy of mine. Think of all the different types of shoes you have, and how each one has its own purpose; yet, we sometimes expect a single pair of glasses to do everything. If you shoot with open sights, and you’re presbyopic (buzzword for “over 45 or so”) then you need help to get the front sight focused, and there are ways to do that:
Press-on pinholes will allow you to see the front and back sights, and your target clearly. Those of us who are nearsighted are familiar with the tendency to squint to see clearly far away without our glasses, or when our prescriptions are no longer strong enough. Pinholes will clear up the image, but with a drawback – they don’t work too well unless the light is fairly bright. Also, if you’re developing a cataract that is located towards the center of your lens (more on that very soon), the pinhole might actually make things worse, by blocking the light that would go through the periphery of your lens.
Multifocal contact lenses: unlike eyeglass lenses, contact lens multifocals use a concentric design – the distance vision is in the center, and the power changes to near as you go away from the center (or vice versa, depending on the manufacturer and design.) So, as you look through the lens, you are always seeing “clearly” at all distances, since the lens moves with your eye and is always on center. There is a trade-off, however; since you are always looking through distance and near parts of the lens, everything is simultaneously in and out of focus. Some people never get used to this, and complain of “ghost” images from the parts of the lens that are focusing at distances other than the object they want to see clearly.
Now, for something you might never have heard before: a pair of glasses with the distance Rx in your non-dominant (non-shooting) eye, and the “Minimum Plus” to get your front sight clear (in most cases, this will be about +0.75 over your distance Rx.) If you have a good person fitting your glasses, you can even ask that the lenses be centered on your eyes while your head is in the position you use when shooting. (And if you aren’t sure which eye is your dominant eye, check out Chris’ website or better yet, pick up a copy of his book!)
To figure the correction for your front sights, have someone measure the distance from the bridge of your nose to the front sight. Then tell your eye care provider you need a prescription that just enough “plus power” to get that distance in focus. If your eye doc is pretty cool about things like shooting, then you could ask about the method shown in the picture below. Here, a competitive air pistol shooter is holding his pistol while I dial in just enough correction to get the front sight focused. It worked well! Also, remember to have the optical centers placed in front of your eyes, when you are lined up with the sights on your rifle.
The image below will give you some idea of how the glasses work. With a lens focused for the front sight distance, the target is extremely blurred, but with just enough correction to enable you to see the front sight clearly, the target is not so blurred. Of course, in perfect world, everything would always be focused.
I hope this overview of the optical problems encountered by those of us of “bifocal age” has helped you to understand some of the concepts and potential solutions regarding those problems. In the next installment, I’ll go over some of the changes the eye undergoes with age, and what can be done about them. In the meantime, shoot safely, and always remember your eye protection!
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23. Liberals fear monger on guns - but the truth is that violent crime and murder are at an all time low
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http://tinyurl.com/jc5m5dp
or
http://eaglerising.com/27793/liberals-f ... -time-low/
Liberals fear monger on guns - but the truth is that violent crime and murder are at an all time low
By Onan Coca
Decenber 21, 2015
The New York Times is busy fear-mongering again.
Earlier this month their Editorial Board published an op-ed decrying what they call “the gun epidemic in America.” It’s interesting commentary, if only as a look into the twisted, confused mind of the liberal coastal elites. The Times has only harsh vitriol for those of us who defend the right of every American to defend themselves from others who would do them harm. I mean, just read this bit of hyperbolic nonsense, “It is a moral outrage and national disgrace that civilians can legally purchase weapons designed to kill people with brutal speed and efficiency.”
The statement is absurd. There are a large number of things that can kill people with brutal speed and efficiency, even if they weren’t designed to do so. The design of the tool, the reason for its existence, does not have any bearing on its inherent morality. For example, while the New York Times believes that guns have been “designed to kill people,” I would argue that this view is wrong. I believe that guns are “designed to defend people” -- does that mean that guns are now “moral”?
No. Inanimate objects can be neither moral or immoral. Only humans can be such. So a gun in the hands of an immoral person may be used for evil, while in the hands of a moral person used for good. The gun is amoral.
All of this misses a greater point that the New York Times Editorial board obviously ignored. There is NO gun epidemic in the United States today. Nope. Not at all.
How do I know? The FBI (by way of the Washington Examiner) tells us so. The latest data from the FBI shows that murders in the United States are at an all-time low.
It’s not just murders either. Violent crime in general is down… way down. We’ve cut violent crime by more than 50% since 1991 and property crime by 43%. In fact, 2013 was the least violent year we’ve seen since at least 1970. Sadly, most Americans don’t seem to know that our streets are safer than they’ve been in almost 50 years.
According to a Gallup poll from November 2014, despite dramatic declines in the nation's violent crime rate, a majority of Americans say "there is more crime in the U.S. than there was a year ago," which reflects a long-term Gallup trend. Currently, 63 percent of Americans believe crime is up over last year. The reality, again, is different. Crime statistics released by the FBI also in November 2014 revealed that the estimated number of violent crimes in 2013 decreased by 4.4 percent when compared with 2012 figures, and the estimated number of property crimes decreased by 4.1 percent.
Government statistics show that, except for some small blips, serious crime has decreased almost every year from 1994 through 2013.
While researchers aren’t quite sure why Americans think crime and violence are wreaking havoc in America… I think I know the answer.
It’s the media’s fault.
I know, I know, it’s easy to blame the media. We blame the media for everything. Well, I’m dubious at how much we have to blame the media for but on this one thing, I think it is safe to say it is their fault. Why? Consider what you’ll see in the local and national news tonight. Violence, crime, hate, evil… our news media is inundated with stories of fear and dread. So most Americans believe that crime is rampant, violence is everywhere and that there is a “gun epidemic.”
Well, I have news for you and the New York Times. Violence is down. WAY DOWN. Gun Ownership is up. WAY UP. In fact, Mr. New York Times, gun ownership in America is at an all time high (and continues climbing). Meanwhile, violent crime and murder are at all time lows. Correlation doesn’t necessarily mean causation, but when you study the data, these two factors seem to go hand in hand.
There is no “gun epidemic.” There was a “crime epidemic,” but gun ownership seems to have fixed that problem.
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24. The psychology of violence- gun control history and background of the 2nd amendment
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http://tinyurl.com/of44nm9
or
http://www.dranthonynapoleon.com/#!Gun- ... bb74cd221d
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25. Wake-up time in Europe: Time to get armed
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Thanks to member Mark Shinn for the link:
http://tinyurl.com/qazkq4t
or
http://www.wnd.com/2015/12/wake-up-time ... get-armed/
Wake-up time in Europe: Time to get armed
By Leo Hohmann
December 18, 2015
Of all the countries in Europe being overrun with Islamic refugees, Sweden may be the most vulnerable.
Known as a bastion of liberalism and tolerance in a pre-manufactured multicultural society, Sweden is seeing the first signs of a culture breaking down.
Official law enforcement statistics show a significant surge in violence in Sweden even before the massive influx of 190,000 refugees in 2015. Sweden has been importing Muslim immigrants into its major cities for decades, and parts of Stockholm, Trelleborg and Malmo have taken on a new, distinctively Middle Eastern look and feel. Sexual assaults, killings and gang activity are all on the rise.
But the flood of new refugees from Syria, Afghanistan and North Africa in 2015 has been a wake-up call for many Swedes, who are now getting armed, reports Ingrid Carlqvist for Gatestone Institute.
Carlqvist says Sweden has become, not a police state, but a “nightwatchman state – every man is on his own.”
With the influx of 190,000 unskilled and unemployed migrants expected this year — equivalent to 2 percent of Sweden’s current population.
That number is as if 6.4 million Islamic migrants arrived in the U.S. in one year, as opposed to the roughly 200,000 that come to America annually.
“And the Swedes are preparing: demand for firearms licenses is increasing; more and more Swedes are joining shooting clubs and starting vigilante groups. … According to police statistics, there are 1,901,325 licensed guns, owned by 567,733 people, in Sweden.”
Add to this an unknown number of illegal weapons. To get a gun permit in Sweden, you need to be at least 18 years old, law-abiding, well-behaved, and have a hunting license or be a member of an approved shooting club. In 2014, 11,000 people got hunting licenses: 10 percent more than the year before. One out of five was a woman.
“There is also a high demand for alarm systems right now,” a salesman at one of the security companies told Carlqvist.
“It is largely due to the turbulence we are seeing around the country at the moment.” People have lost confidence in the state, he added.
Alan Gottlieb, executive vice president of the Second Amendment Foundation, told WND he recently returned from a conference in Europe, where he learned that many countries are experiencing soaring weapon sales. WND reported Oct. 26 on one such country, Austria.
Obtaining a working firearm and ammunition in many European countries – such as Germany, Britain, Denmark and the Netherlands – is practically impossible for the average citizen.
Germany, for instance, requires a psychological evaluation, the purchase of liability insurance and verifiable compliance with strict firearms storage and safety rules. And self-defense is not even a valid reason to purchase a gun in these countries.
Sweden’s gun laws are also ultra-tight. It is illegal for a civilian in Sweden to carry a firearm, unless for a specific, legal purpose, such as hunting or attending shooting ranges, according to the website Sweden.org.
Guns must by law be stored in an approved safe. And to transport firearms, there are also rules. “The general regulations are that the gun must be unloaded, hidden and transported in a safe and secure way under supervision,” the website says.
But even with these restrictions, increasing numbers of people are willing to go through the red tape necessary to get a gun.
“In Sweden, gun and ammunition sales are up just like in other European countries due to the wave of immigrants from the Middle East and the increase in terrorism,” Gottlieb said. “People everywhere want the means to defend themselves. When seconds count, the police are minutes away.”
In Sweden, Carlqvist reported that residents are reporting longer response times from overburdened police. And sometimes, depending on the location, the cops don’t come at all.
She writes:
“Truck drivers say that when they see a thief emptying the fuel tank of their trucks, they run out with a baseball bat. It is no use calling the police, but if you hit the thief, you can at least prevent him from stealing more diesel. Many homeowners say the same thing: they sleep with a baseball bat under the bed. But this is risky: the police can then say you have been prepared to use force, and that might backfire on you.
“The salesman, who asked to remain anonymous, also spoke of Sweden’s many Facebook groups, in which people in different villages openly discuss how they intend to protect themselves: ‘Sometimes you get totally freaked out when you see what they are writing. But you have to understand that Swedes are really scared when an asylum house opens in their village. They can see what has happened in other places.'”
At another security company, a salesman said every time the state immigration authorities buy or rent a new housing center for refugees, his firm is swamped with calls.
“The next day, half the village calls and wants to buy alarm systems,” he told Gatestone.
Pamela Geller, the anti-Shariah activist and author of Stop the Islamization of America, said Sweden represents the future of Europe. And long term, it could easily be America if it continues to head down its current path.
“This is indeed the future of Europe,” she wrote in a recent blog. “By their irresponsible and short-sighted, suicidal immigration and refugee policies, Europe’s political and media elites have ensured a future of violence, bloodshed and chaos for their people.”
Larry Pratt, executive director of Gun Owners of America, said any Western society that is modeled on tolerance had better also be protective of citizens’ rights to defend their homes and their persons.
“In America, we say that a liberal who was mugged yesterday is a conservative today. It looks as if Sweden has a rapidly increasing conservative population that has either recently been mugged or has the fear of such imminent violence,” Pratt told WND. “The threat of terrorism in their famously tolerant country has convinced Swedes that firearms and tolerance may not be inconsistent. Tolerance, perhaps, but a gun for sure.”
Jerry Henry, executive director of GeorgiaCarry.org, said it would appear that Sweden and the U.S. have a lot in common.
“There are many parallels, in my opinion. Although citizens in both countries are purchasing firearms for self-protection, the U.S. is ahead in purchasing firearms as we have been doing that in a serious manner since 2008 and continue today,” Henry said.
“Sweden turned a blind eye to the coming refugee storm, and our present administration did its best to get our citizens to do the same thing,” he added. “Now Sweden finds themselves in need to protect themselves and are doing what we have been doing for quite some time.”
As in the U.S., women in Sweden represent one of fastest growing segments fueling the current gun-sale bonanza.
“I am amazed that a citizen in Sweden can be arrested for sleeping with a baseball bat under his bed for being prepared to use force. How ridiculous is that? This is very difficult for me and most U.S. citizens to believe while admitting we have many gun prohibitionists who would love to see such a move here.”
Henry said gun sales are up in all locations across his state, and the demand for concealed-carry permits skyrocketed after the San Bernardino, California, Islamic terrorist attack that killed 14 people at a Christmas party.
“One would expect this trend to continue for quite some time. Most people I know are either prepared for the worst or preparing for the worst,” he said.
“We also have a lot of sheriffs and law officers who are urging armed citizens to carry to protect themselves and others if necessary,” Henry continued. “This is a huge reversal from just a couple of years ago. This is especially gratifying when our president’s first thought after a mass murder is to discuss how he plans to implement gun control.”
“The Age of Aquarius was in the 1960s and 1970s, but the Age of Awakening may be appearing just over the horizon.”
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26. Trump rally in Radford comments
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Here are two reports of VCDL activism at a political rally, in this case a Tump rally in Radford. NOTE: VCDL does not take a position on which presidential candidate to vote for. This is not a VCDL endorsement of Trump, nor is it meant to be a detraction. Just a report at what happened at this rally from the point of view of two VCDL Executive members who were there to handout GSL stickers. Those stickers were very visible on CNN’s coverage.
From EM John Wilburn:
This morning, dad and I went to the Trump rally at Radford University's Dedmon Center. Driving in approaching the event, I could already tell this was going to be much bigger than I expected. Two hours before the event, all the onsite parking and public parking within a mile was taken. At the top of the bridge approaching the Dedmon Center, two guys walking beside us looked at the scene, said they would never get in, and turned toward a place to watch it on TV (quitters!). After walking past scores of Bernie Sanders groupies, Black Lives Matters fools, and other assorted Trump haters, we hit a wall of stalled "traffic", people trying to get in. One person was heard on the phone receiving news that the tickets were oversold and people were being turned away. We pressed on and were crushed in the mob for the fifty feet or so approaching the door. There were lots of protesters right outside the door, another campaign bus (McKelvey), and a huge screen showing the "warm-up acts" speaking inside.
After entering the main doors, I could see Radford University police watching the doors, an officer with an explosives-sniffing dog, TSA screening the attendees' phones, keys, purses, coats, etc., and the Secret Service running the magnetometers and wanding people. I prepared for security the usual way and the same way as the Rubio event the night before, but there was practically no security at that event. After a few of the Black Lives Matters protesters shoved past me in line, I made it to the TSA table with no problems and declared my primary empty holster only because it has a metal clip; the kydex mini holster was on a lanyard obviously hanging from my belt. They calmly directed me to the Secret Service agent on the other side of the metal detector. He was mildly hysterical over the piece of leather and the tiny kydex trigger guard cover attached to my belt loop. Seriously, most people wouldn't notice, few who notice would recognize either, and fewer still would care, but logic wasn't welcome in our discussion!
That agent then gets his supervisor to opine. The supervisor sees the tiny kydex mini holster (size of a small potato chip on a string) and says he knows exactly what that is and I can't bring it in. I told him, that wasn't even the one I was asking about and turned to my left to show him the empty leather IWB holster that all of one inch could be seen with my coat off. The reason I generally leave it on my belt is that it's such a pain to remove with its bobbed clip. Their eyes grew to the size of quarters and even with all that was going on, I still found their unjustified "shock" funny. The first agent said there was no way I was being admitted with either of them and even said he couldn't believe I “would try to bring that in here!” I guess he thought I put on two empty holsters purposefully to wear there...? I don't know, but he was clueless. A piece of leather and a piece of plastic on a string... oh, the horror. Glad I didn't mention the belt being made specifically for carry; they may have banned it too... who knows. Meanwhile, a herd of youths, disproportionately black, carrying Bernie Sanders signs and very obviously coordinating something mischievous on their phones were going in. (What again was more likely to be a problem?)
Having limited time and options at this point, I asked if I could try to make arrangements with the university police who were standing in close proximity then come back to the front of the line. He agreed. Speaking to the male and female officer guarding the door, they said they couldn't take any property, but if I laid it there (pointing to a little nook by the security area), it is unlikely anyone would take it. I agreed and did so. After fighting for a little while with the leather holster, I got it off of my belt and put the mini-holster inside it, then stashed it where they told me. I re-approached the metal detector, came through with no further problems, and was then engaged by the Secret Service supervisor who asked if I always carried two guns. I said, "Yes...and an extra magazine, of course." He smiled and I think he would have given me a high five if he could have. He directed us inside with 13 minutes to spare.
Once inside, the real circus began! Many of the people seated behind the podium were wearing Guns Save Lives stickers and used them to attach campaign signs to the railings. Nice seeing the GSL stickers on the national news. Trump said there were three thousand inside and eleven thousand outside. There were at least six separate interruptions for protestors and, unlike Hillary unsuccessfully diffusing the Black Lives Matter protester at her event, Trump wasn't shy about having them thrown out. After the first protester yelled out, Trump said, "Charlie (a Trump bodyguard), throw him out!" The crowd loved it, often chanting at the protesters and it sure looked like Trump did too. Shortly after that, the youths who were in line behind me had assembled with the rest of their group and burst out in protest. Trump not only bounced them, he told the staff to let more people in from outside to use those seats. Dad nearly got in a physical altercation with a protester behind us. A photographer who went outside of the media area got tackled by a Secret Service agent. Security got quite a workout!
After this circus, I mean Rally, was over, I walked back out the same way to reclaim my holster. It was gone, but one of the university cops saw where it went. TSA saw it breaking down and put it in the box with the other attendees' contraband like umbrellas and assorted things. I heard one agent forcefully telling an attendee, "You're not getting your mace or pepper spray back!" I looked in the pile of personal property, now on the floor, and my holster was not there. Then, the female officer walked up to me, handed it to me, patted me on the back, and said some guy was trying to steal it and remembering me having it, she intervened and held onto for me. The university police seemed to feel bad about me being harassed by the Secret Service and they looked out for me. The perils of those who carry never end, but kudos to the Radford University Police Department for helping with this one!
Dad picked up several Trump signs and gave several away to people asking for them while we were walking the mile back to the car. It was quite an event and if it's any indication of Trump's support in other college towns across America, Hillary has quite a race on her hands!
—
From EM Dave Knight
Passing out GSL Stickers at the Trump Rally, 02/29/16.
What a hoot!
Around 9 AM, I met with Bob Marcellus & his family at the entrance to
the Dedmon Center. After "arming" me with a Trump hat and two rolls of
GSL stickers, and suggesting that I "work the line", they went inside.
"The Line", extended from the entrance, around the "Z" parking lot and out
to the bridge over the tracks. Calling it a "line" is a bit misleading;
it was NOT single file! Rather, it was a line of "groups" - families &
like-minded groups!
Contrary to my expectations, almost everyone in line WANTED a GSL sticker!
Some of the FEW who declined to take one did so with a condescending
sneer. I suspect they were among the malcontents who later tried to
disrupt the rally.
At one point, the line dissolved into a stampede heading to the entrance;
no idea why. I was well into the 2nd roll of stickers and took a few
minutes to deposit all the GSL sticker backing paper into a waste bin.
I had been stuffing it into my jacket and must have looked ridiculous!
As I waded into the crowd near the entrance I was bombarded by
ear-splitting music (Elton John and others who, at a lower volume would
have been enjoyable). I thought it would be difficult to promote the
stickers ... WRONG! All I had to do was hold one up in the air and I
was immediately surrounded by dozens of people wanting at least one!
At one point, one of the warm-up speakers (on the HUGE TV screen) gave
a surprise shout-out to "all the Guns Save Lives stickers" and the 2nd
Amendment in general!
Pretty soon, I was out of stickers, and only then did I notice the
group of maybe 50 scowling protesters to the right of the entrance with
their hateful signs projecting their own hate onto those they hate; so
"textbook" it made me laugh!
To me, this was one of the most gratifying experiences I've had in
some time. I strongly recommend other VCDL members to volunteer to
distribute GSL stickers at other campaign rallies, while noting that
rallies for GOP candidates (who all support the 2nd Amendment) are likely
to be more gratifying than rallies for candidates from other parties.
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VA-ALERT is a project of the Virginia Citizens Defense League, Inc.
(VCDL). VCDL is an all-volunteer, non-partisan grassroots organization
dedicated to defending the human rights of all Virginians. The Right to
Keep and Bear Arms is a fundamental human right.
VCDL web page: http://www.vcdl.org [http://www.vcdl.org/]